Nice effects though.

Good concept, poorly executed.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

I never really watched the TV series, I just saw it here and there, so I can't claim any 'fandom'. It was mostly a case of watching this as a standalone film. The revenge genre is one of my favourite genres and this film is a very worthy addition. It actually scared me at times, sort of like The Godfather did, but the direction, the script, the performances and cinematography are all top notch. I've not seen the second one yet, but I'm looking forward to it. Washington nails it, as usual. Is there anything he can't do?

Russian Mafia, explosions and Denzel Washington... No very creative.

Great movie until the last 10 minutes - DW further solidifies himself as one of the all time great actors - if ending was more plausible I would have rated it a 10. Fist fight in store would not have happened and Robert couldn't just hang out in the diner after these events. But even with a weak ending it was very good - looking forward to the sequel.

"The Equalizer" is based off of an 80's TV show about an ex-spy/mercenary that helps people with problems that need to be solved outside the law, and while the movie ultimately sets this aspect up, most of the film just leads up to that point, and I have to assume isn't really connected that strongly to the show. Denzel Washington and Antoine Fuqua have worked together before in the memorable and very well-crafted "Training Day", but Equalizer shows that the people involved are only as good as the script, and that's where the weaknesses of this come into play, as well as some silly editing and scene-transitions. Middle-Aged Men action films are something of a sub-genre now after Taken, with multiple franchises and installments based around the concept, including the very popular John Wick series. You always use a jury of your peers, so John Wick is the peer to something like Equalizer, and is better because Wick established a stylized alternate world to our own and had well-practiced choreography without jump-cuts, edits, and slow-motion. Wick also got beaten up and ran out of ammo several times in the movie, and had to be saved by friends more than once; in short he was skilled but still human. Denzel's Robert McCall almost never expends a shred of effort, with planning skills that would make Batman look like a sloppy procrastinator. It's still fun for what it is, and Chloe Moretz, Martin Csokas, and the rest of the cast do a great job in their roles, but the movie gets more and more absurd as it goes in terms of how resourceful and skilled McCall is, to the point that he singlehandedly takes down a wing of the Russian Mafia, disrupting their entire operation in Boston, and then travelling to Russia and killing the kingpin, all without much effort (even though he does sustain a gunshot wound to the shoulder, which isn't a big deal to him). I love seeing heroes take on the bad guys, it's a great, timeless fantasy that can be very rewarding and inspiring if done well, but The Equalizer takes any suspense and drama out of the equation, and there's very little struggle on the part of the hero. Wick got outclassed in a hand-to-hand fight and James Bond routinely gets knocked around in his outings, but it's hard for me to root for a hero who at some point doesn't get taxed or pushed, no matter how resourceful they are. It's saved by Denzel's solid-as-always performance and the rest of the cast, but The Equalizer has material that has been way better by much better productions.